Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Xat. Org

Let's Go FORWARDTell someone you are going to a convention of
accountants and you might get a few yawns, yet money and how it works is
probably one of the most interesting things on earth.

It is fascinating
and almost magical how money appeared on our planet. Unlike most developments we
enjoy, which can be traced back to a source, civilisation or inventor, money
appeared in places then unconnected all over the world in a remarkably simular
way.

Consider the American Indians using Wampum, West Africans trading
in decorative metallic objects called Manillas and the Fijians economy based on
whales teeth, some of which are still legal tender; add to that shells, amber,
ivory, decorative feathers, cattle including oxen & pigs, a large number of
stones including jade and quartz which have all been used for trade across the
world, and we get a taste of the variety of accepted currency.

There is
something charming and childlike imagining primitive societies, our ancestors,
using all these colourful forms of money. As long as everyone concerned can
agree on a value, this is a sensible thing for a community to do.

After
all, the person who has what you need might not need what you have to trade.
Money solves that problem neatly. Real value with each exchange, and everyone
gaining from the convenience. The idea is really inspired which might explain
why so many diverse minds came up with it.

BUT
ALL IS NOT WELL

"History records that the money changers have
used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to
maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance."
President James Madison

Money, money, money, it's always just been
there, right? Wrong.

Obviously it's issued by the government to make it
easy for us to exchange things. Wrong again!

Truth is most people don't
realise that the issuing of money is essentially a private business, and that
the privilege of issuing money has been a major bone of contention throughout
history.

Wars have been fought and depressions have been caused in the
battle over who issues the money; however the majority of us are not aware of
this, and this is largely due to the fact that the winning side became and
increasingly continues to be a vital and respected member of our global society,
having an influence over large aspects of our lives including our education, our
media and our governments.

While we might feel powerless in trying to
stop the manipulation of money for private profit at our expense, it is easy to
forget that we collectively give money its value. We have been taught to believe
printed pieces of paper have special value, and because we know others believe
this too, we are willing to work all our lives to get what we are convinced
others will want.

An honest look at history will show us how our innocent
trust has been misused.

Let's start our exploration of money
with:

JESUS FLIPS (many coins) 33 A.D.

Jesus was so upset by the sight of the money changers in the temple,
he waded in and started to tip over the tables and drive them out with a whip,
this being the one and only time we ever hear of him using force during his
entire ministry.

So what caused the ultimate pacifist to become so
aggressive?

For a long time the Jews had been called upon to pay their
temple tax with a special coin called the half shekelshekel. It was a measured
half ounce of pure silver with no image of a pagan emperor on it.

It was
to them the only coin acceptable to God.

But because there was only a
limited number of these coins in circulation, the money changers were in a
buyers market and like with anything else in short supply, they were able to
raise the price to what the market would bear.

They made huge profits
with their monopoly on these coins and turned this time of devotion into a
mockery for profit. Jesus saw this as stealing from the people and proclaimed
the whole setup to be. "A den of thieves". 1

Once money is accepted as a form of exchange, those who produce, loan
out and manipulate the quantity of money are obviously in a very strong
position. They are the "Money Changers".

1. King James
NT, Mt 21:13, Mr 11:17, Lu 19:46

MEDIEVAL
ENGLAND (1000 - 1100 A.D.)

Here we find goldsmith's offering
to keep other people's gold and silver safe in their vaults, and in return
people walking away with a receipt for what they have left there.

These
paper receipts soon became popular for trade as they were less heavy to carry
around than gold and silver coins.

After a while, the goldsmith's must
have noticed that only a small percentage of their depositor's ever came in to
demand their gold at any one time. So cleverly the goldsmith's made out some
receipts for gold which didn't even exist, and then they loaned it out to earn
interest.

A nod and a wink amongst themselves, they incorporated this
practice into the banking system. They even gave it a name to make it seem more
acceptable, christening the practice 'Fractional Reserve Banking' which
translates to mean, lending out many times more money than you have assets on
deposit.

Today banks are allowed to loan out at least ten times the
amount they actually are holding, so while you wonder how they get rich charging
you 11% interest, it's not 11% a year they make on that amount but actually
110%.

THE TALLY STICKS (1100 - 1854)

King Henry the First produced sticks of polished wood, with notches
cut along one edge to signify the denominations. The stick was then split full
length so each piece still had a record of the notches.

The King kept
one half for proof against counterfeiting, and then spent the other half into
the market place where it would continue to circulate as money.

Because
only Tally Sticks were accepted by Henry for payment of taxes, there was a built
in demand for them, which gave people confidence to accept these as money.

He could have used anything really, so long as the people agreed it had
value, and his willingness to accept these sticks as legal tender made it easy
for the people to agree. Money is only as valuable as peoples faith in it, and
without that faith even today's money is just paper.

The tally stick
system worked really well for 726 years. It was the most successful form of
currency in recent history and the British Empire was actually built under the
Tally Stick system, but how is it that most of us are not aware of its
existence?

Perhaps the fact that in 1694 the Bank of England at its
formation attacked the Tally Stick System gives us a clue as to why most of us
have never heard of them. They realised it was money outside the power of the
money changers, (the very thing King Henry had intended).

What better
way to eliminate the vital faith people had in this rival currency than to
pretend it simply never existed and not discuss it. That seems to be what
happened when the first shareholder's in the Bank of England bought their
original shares with notched pieces of wood and retired the system. You heard
correctly, they bought shares. The Bank of England was set up as a privately
owned bank through investors buying shares. Even the Banks resent
nationalisation is not what it at first may appear, as its independent resources
unceasingly multiply and dividends continue to be produced for its
shareholder's.

These investors, who's names were kept secret, were meant
to invest one and a quarter million pounds, but only three quarters of a million
was received when it was chartered in 1694.

It then began to lend out
many times more than it had in reserve, collecting interest on the lot.

This is not something you could just impose on people without
preparation. The money changers needed to created the climate to make the
formation of this private concern seem acceptable.

Here's how they did
it.

With King Henry VIII relaxing the Usury Laws in the 1500's, the
money changers flooded the market with their gold and silver coins becoming
richer by the minute.

The English Revolution of 1642 was financed by the
money changers backing Oliver Cromwell's successful attempt to purge the
parliament and kill King Charles. What followed was 50 years of costly wars.
Costly to those fighting them and profitable to those financing them.

So
profitable that it allowed the money changers to take over a square mile of
property still known as the City of London, which remains one of the three main
financial centres in the world today.

The 50 years of war left England
in financial ruin. The government officials went begging for loans from guess
who, and the deal proposed resulted in a government sanctioned, privately owned
bank which could produce money from nothing, essentially legally counterfeiting
a national currency for private gain.

Now the politicians had a source
from which to borrow all the money they wanted to borrow, and the debt created
was secured against public taxes. THE HISTORY OF MONEY
PART2

About Me

Robert Searle was educated in Windsor at the Royal Free, the Tutorials, and East Berkshire College. He is the originator of two major "work in progress" Paradigms known as Transfinancial Economics (TFE), and Multi-Dimensional Science (MDS).The former believes that new unearned money could be electronically created without serious inflation notably for key environmental, and
socially ethical projects. Multi-Dimensional Science though presents an unique "scientific" Methodology by which claimed psychic, and spiritual "phenomena"could possibly be "proved".
Apart from the above, Searle has proposed the development of the Universal Debating Project, an interactive "encyclopedia" of virtually "all" pro, and con arguments for practically any subject in the world.He is the creator too of a tribute blog on the musician, and broadcaster David Munrow (1942-1976), and a pioneering one on Contemporary Early Music.Furthermore, he has a very large audio-visual collection of Medieval, and Renaissance Music (manually created as Searle8), and has an "unusual" musical project involving improvisation which could also open up a "new" approach to music.